Evaluation: HireUp

Hub Solutions was contracted by HireUp to help construct their program theory, develop their program logic model and to evaluate the overall effectiveness of their program. HireUp is an online employment platform developed to connect individuals facing barriers to hiring with meaningful work opportunities. The program partners with Service Organizations (SOs) to find job seekers and received funding from the Government of Canada’s Innovative Solutions to Homelessness (ISH) grant.

The main evaluation questions were:

What is the program theory for HireUp?

How effective is HireUp in providing employment opportunities for homeless and/or at-risk youth?

What are HireUp’s strengths?

How can HireUp be improved?

The method

The evaluation included six main components:

Fine-tuning of the program logic model.

Creation of a framework to assess and measure outcomes.

Interviews with 2 HireUp staff members.

Interviews with 9 young people who have used HireUp.

Surveys with 32 young people who have used HireUp.

A secondary analysis of 11 interviews conducted with representatives from YSO agencies that have partnered with HireUp.

Client:

HireUp

Services Offered:

Literature review

Qualitative and quantitative data collection

Logic model creation

How did we do it?

Literature Review

A program theory and logic model were developed after an in-depth literature review on youth employment was conducted. The review placed emphasis on studies of young people experiencing homelessness.

Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection

A sample of program participants from different agencies with different employment histories were selected for interviews based on geographic location and employment frequency.

Logic Model

A logic model was developed with a focus on three priority areas: Why?, Goals and Program Eligibility.

The result

The evaluation found that 88% of participants had applied for at least one job using the platform. 55.2% of respondents were satisfied with the number and variety of jobs available on HireUp.The number of job applications grew from 76 in the first year to 305 in the span of just 3 months between May and August 2018. Usership will likely continue to increase as HireUp works to strengthen partnerships with SOs (especially those servicing diverse populations), provide a further breadth of employment opportunities among other recommendations. We thank the participants of the HireUp program for sharing their stories with us. Hub Solutions worked collaboratively with HireUp staff in order to ensure that all of the evaluation objectives were met.

“… most of the jobs were not for a younger people or for the people the companies asked for a lot of requirements and like I didn’t match neither of them and with Hire Up I was able to match quickly”.